Global Perspectives (GPS) 

1. Courses in this category have a central focus on contemporary global issues, societies, and/or cultures.
2. Courses in this category include multiple examples of engagement with the perspectives or material produced by people from studied global societies and cultures.
3. Course in this category focus on one or more societies, cultures, or subcultures located or originating from outside the United States.
4. Courses in this category include an assessment assignment that requires students to demonstrate each of the skills in the Global Perspectives Assessment Rubric (below). This assessment assignment should be one of the following: an objective exam, an essay question on an exam, an essay, or a research paper.

1. Students will demonstrate an ability to evaluate the global impact of their own and /or others’ specific local actions on the natural and human world.
2. Students will demonstrate an ability to integrate other perspectives (e.g., cultural, disciplinary, ethical) when investigating particular topics within natural and human systems.
3. Students will analyze substantial connections between the worldviews and experiences of multiple cultures, historically or in contemporary contexts.

Students may apply to fulfill the GPS requirement through a co-curricular activity. These criteria apply to experiences that meet the GPS curricular requirement and describe the characteristics of the experience, the steps a student must follow to seek approval, and the number and types of assignment students must submit to satisfy the requirement.

1. Activities in fulfillment of this requirement receive advanced approval through the Office of General Education, Students must submit a pre-approval petition and must obtain verification of participation.

2. Students fulfilling Global Perspectives through an activity must submit a written reflection with the petition outlining what the activity is, how they anticipate the activity will fulfill the requirement, and what they expect to gain and learn from the experience.

3. Student experiences must involve at least fourteen days of an immersive experience in a global culture. An immersive context is one in which students live like members of the local population, following local customs, eating local food, taking local transportation, etc.

4. Students must submit a reflection of at least 1000 words that responds to the following prompt:

Please describe in detail the activity you used to complete the Global Perspectives requirement. In your reflection, answer the following questions, What global culture or society did you experience through this activity? What did you come to understand about this culture or society and its perspectives? In what ways are the views and values of this culture similar to those of your home culture? In what ways are these views and values different? What did you come to understand about the impact of this society or culture on the world? What did you come to understand about your own impact?

5. Students seeking to petition and experience after matriculation at SMU must submit a pre-approval petition for the experience, The first written reflection must be submitted along with the petition.

6. Students who matriculate at SMU as first year students must begin and complete all Global Perspectives experiences after matriculation at SMU.

7. Students who matriculate at SMU as transfer students may petition Global Perspectives experiences completed after high school graduation but prior to matriculation at SMU.

8. Students fulfilling Global Perspectives through an individually approved activity must submit a completion petition at the end of their experience.

1. Contemporary: The 20th and 21st centuries, but could include events that occurred during the latter part of the 19th century.
2. Culture: A way of life (behaviors, beliefs, values, symbols, shared experiences, etc.) learned within and shared by a particular group of people at a particular time.
3. Development: The process whereby economies are transformed into industrial or post-industrial economies.
4. Global challenge: A situation and/or problem that impacts human-made and natural systems without regard to boundaries or borders.
5. Global context: The larger interconnected framework within which regional and local human-made and natural systems exist.
6. Informed perspective: An understanding that is fact based and informed by diverse perspectives that include those of the societies and cultures being studied.
7. Privilege: Unearned advantages available to people who fit into a particular social class or identity group.
8. Stratification: Socio-economic categorization of people into groups based on factors such as wealth, income, race, and education.
9. Sustainability: The safeguarding of life-supporting ecosystems for present and future generations.

Students may use pre-matriculation transfer coursework, concurrent enrollment, dual-credit, and test credit (AP or IB) to satisfy Graduation requirements. The coursework must be college-level, credit-bearing work, taken and passed for a letter grade. Students must receive SMU transfer credit for the course.

Courses that transfer in with an SMU equivalent number (for example FREN 2401) will automatically satisfy any Proficiency & Experience requirements fulfilled by the course. The same is true for many courses on the listed on the SMU Transfer Equivalency Guide. 

Courses that transfer in with generic course numbers (for example, ENGL 10XX) will not automatically satisfy Proficiency & Experience requirements and must be petitioned using the Proficiency & Experience (PE) Fulfillment Verification petition.

Students must submit one petition for each graduation requirement, even if they are using a single course to petition multiple requirements. Students may use a single course to satisfy up to three Proficiency & Experience requirements (assuming the course meets the criteria for all three).  

How to petition generic transfer coursework:

1. Fill out the Petition for Alternative Fulfillment, selecting the requirement they are hoping to fulfill and checking the second option that says “I am a current or transfer student, and I am requesting fulfillment through a dual-credit or transfer course.”
2. Attach a complete syllabus which includes a daily schedule, grade breakdown, assignments, and assigned readings.
3. Attach a copy of the Transfer Evaluation Report (TER), showing that the course being petitioned has transferred to SMU for credit. Visit my.SMU > Academics > Request Transfer Evaluation
4. Attach a brief supporting statement, using the provided template, that explains how the course fulfills the Proficiency & Experience being petitioned.

Petitions are electronic and are usually reviewed within two weeks of receipt. Students should not assume that a petition has been completely processed until they receive a formal notification of approval or denial from the Office of General Education via The Common Curriculum email (theccmail@smu.edu). The formal notification, in cases of approval, follows the formal update to the students Degree Progress Report (DPR), noting that the petitioned requirement is satisfied.

Use the course search options below to find Global Perspective-tagged courses at SMU. Following successful completion of the course, your Degree Progress Report (DPR) will be updated to reflect satisfying this graduation requirement. Learn how to find tagged courses below via one of two means. 

Search courses on the Common Curriculum website:

1. Go to Course Search on the SMU Common Curriculum website
2. Click Filter by Graduation Requirements and select Global Perspective

Search courses in my.SMU:

1. Go to my.smu.edu and select “Students”
2. Login using your username and password
3. Once logged into your Student Dashboard, select Class Information on the left-hand side bar
4. Under Class Information, select Advanced Class Search
5. In the Search Criteria boxes:
   1. select the term you want to take the class
   2. in Course Attribute, select Common Curriculum P & E
   3. in Course Attribute Value, select Global Perspective
6. Select Search and the available courses will be displayed

Students may apply to fulfill the GPS requirement through a co-curricular activity. These criteria apply to experiences that meet the GPS curricular requirement and describe the characteristics of the experience, the steps a student must follow to seek approval, and the number and types of assignment students must submit to satisfy the requirement.

Before the Individual Activity:

1. Activities in fulfillment of this requirement receive advanced approval through the Office of General Education, Students must submit a pre-approval petition and must obtain verification of participation.
2. Students fulfilling Global Perspectives through an activity must submit a written reflection with the petition outlining what the activity is, how they anticipate the activity will fulfill the requirement, and what they expect to gain and learn from the experience.

Complete the Individual Activity: 

During the individual activity:

1. Student experiences must involve at least fourteen days of an immersive experience in a global culture. An immersive context is one in which students live like members of the local population, following local customs, eating local food, taking local transportation, etc.

After the Individual Activity:

1. Students must submit a reflection of at least 1000 words that responds to the following prompt: Please describe in detail the activity you used to complete the Global Perspectives requirement. In your reflection, answer the following questions, What global culture or society did you experience through this activity? What did you come to understand about this culture or society and its perspectives? In what ways are the views and values of this culture similar to those of your home culture? In what ways are these views and values different? What did you come to understand about the impact of this society or culture on the world? What did you come to understand about your own impact?
2.  Students seeking to petition and experience after matriculation at SMU must submit a pre-approval petition for the experience, The first written reflection must be submitted along with the petition.
3.  Students who matriculate at SMU as first year students must begin and complete all Global Perspectives experiences after matriculation at SMU.
4.  Students who matriculate at SMU as transfer students may petition Global Perspectives experiences completed after high school graduation but prior to matriculation at SMU.
5.  Students fulfilling Global Perspectives through an individually approved activity must submit a completion petition at the end of their experience.

Sometimes students complete, or desire to take, an SMU course which was not tagged with the desired Proficiency & Experience, but after reviewing the Student Learning Outcomes, Supporting Skills, Course Content Criteria (outlined above), they believe they may have satisfied the requirement. Use this process below to petition credit for the graduation requirement. 

Current SMU students who wish to take an SMU course that they believe has activities that satisfy this Proficiency & Experience, must submit, prior to beginning the course:

1. The Proficiency & Experience (PE) Pre-Approval petition and request individual activity-based fulfillment.
2. Attach a complete syllabus which includes a daily schedule, grade breakdown, assignments, and assigned readings.
3. A detailed supporting statement, using the provided template, of how the activities in the course meet the requirements for Community Engagement.

Upon completion of the course and a posting of the student's grade, students must submit:

1. Fill out the Proficiency & Experience (PE) Fulfillment Verification petition.
2. A copy of the student's Degree Progress Report (DPR) with the letter grade of the course. 
3. Attach a complete syllabus which includes a daily schedule, grade breakdown, assignments, and assigned readings.
4. A final supporting statement, using the provided template, which explores the service opportunity, the student’s participation in it, and the ways in which the experience has impacted the student in the identified areas.